Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Our Labyrinth

As we meander down the sacred path through the bushes and trees in our back yard, we feel a sense of excitement as our labyrinth comes into view. We walk slowly, one person at a time into the spiral...breathe in...breathe out...pausing in the middle to meditate or visualize. Then, slowly we amble back to the opening of the circuit. After a journey through the labyrinth, we feel calm, grounded, and inspired....

We made a labyrinth in our backyard. It is beautiful, spiritual, calming, and magical.

After walking around the yard a few times, the kids decided that the back corner was the perfect space. We studied pictures of labyrinths from all over the world and we selected the design that we liked the best. Joey drew up a 7-circuit labyrinth, but then quickly decided that the paths would be too narrow. The design was modified to a 5-circuit labyrinth.

Next, we collected stones from the yards and placed them in the corners, the opening, and the middle. Fortunately, we found a bucket full of stones from Carlsbad beach, camping trips to Mt. Lassen and Idyllwild, trips to Lake Almanor, Lake Tahoe, and San Diego...beautiful stones from magical places! This was the perfect opportunity to infuse our yard with the energy of some of our favorite places.

We drew lines in the ground with sticks and then laid the stones on the lines. We spent a couple of weeks completing the circuits. During trips to dance, art and music lessons, we collected a few rocks and brought them home, always being carful to not take too much from one place.

A couple of geodes from the gold country, some agate and calcite from Idyllwild and an amethyst crystal were incorporated into the design. The crystal stands out of the ground at the top of the middle of the labyrinth, reminding us to pause and breathe.

After the rain, we fix any stones that have moved and find unique, pretty mushrooms that seem to have sprung to life over night. We think that the mushrooms are a sign that the fairies and gnomes love our labyrinth!

Perfectly magical! We have a lot of natural slate here. I have often thought of using that to make one for our family and incorperate some of my favorite herbs. Thank you for sharing this with us. ॐ Namaste ॐ